I noticed that Trafiic light cycle is very slow in the game. Especially with custom lower "Time Speed" parameter in Rule Editor. I use Time Speed about 50% and it can take abou 6 in-game minutes to change to the other direction. This can cause huge traffic jams. So It might be good for better traffic flow to shorten the trafic light cycle. What do u guys think?
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The signals can take quite a lot of time if there are a lot of roads connected to the intersection. I was making a lot of diagonal roads coming out of an intersection of 2 roads and it turns out it takes forever for the signal. That is because it needs to give way in too many possibilities. Never do that.
Also another problem I'm having is with normal intersection (2 roads) but with very frequent services, such as "BRT" that I do with Trolley. Turns out that even 3 buses per hour in a 4 lane road with no heavy traffic, they pile up. The problem is that every car, every signal is something to make the bus slow down. And even removing most of the intersections, it doesn't help. And it happens exactly like that in real life. Frequent service doesn't work in non-exclusive areas (not only exclusive lanes) but right of way and physically blocking the traffic from this lane. Basically a true BRT needs an exclusive road with no intersections (or always green signals based on GPS - but that is not possible in the game) plus the use of the Trinary System.
Anyway, I never played with modified time speed, but I think the signals work all right. Also I notice if there is no traffic at all in one road the signal will never open for that. So they are smart as well, just not smart for public transport.
And it always depends on the map of course. Currently I'm playing Yersk, and I can easily avoid area with high traffic and still use a lot of buses. But each map is a different case. I don't think you can have a reliable bus service in Paris, since the traffic there is nightmare. Perhaps that is why they have 1 metro station every 500 m.
Also another problem I'm having is with normal intersection (2 roads) but with very frequent services, such as "BRT" that I do with Trolley. Turns out that even 3 buses per hour in a 4 lane road with no heavy traffic, they pile up. The problem is that every car, every signal is something to make the bus slow down. And even removing most of the intersections, it doesn't help. And it happens exactly like that in real life. Frequent service doesn't work in non-exclusive areas (not only exclusive lanes) but right of way and physically blocking the traffic from this lane. Basically a true BRT needs an exclusive road with no intersections (or always green signals based on GPS - but that is not possible in the game) plus the use of the Trinary System.
Anyway, I never played with modified time speed, but I think the signals work all right. Also I notice if there is no traffic at all in one road the signal will never open for that. So they are smart as well, just not smart for public transport.
And it always depends on the map of course. Currently I'm playing Yersk, and I can easily avoid area with high traffic and still use a lot of buses. But each map is a different case. I don't think you can have a reliable bus service in Paris, since the traffic there is nightmare. Perhaps that is why they have 1 metro station every 500 m.
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I play at 20% time speed. At this speed, the maximum headway for vehicles operating on roads with other traffic is 10min (6/hour). For vehicles operating on dedicated tracks (metros) you can have two lines sharing a common section (any junctions must be 'non conflicting' type) both working on minimum headway 5min (12/hour x 2).
I agree that if a city has heavy road traffic all transport needs a dedicated right of way in the congested areas.
I agree that if a city has heavy road traffic all transport needs a dedicated right of way in the congested areas.
There is an issue with lights as you point out. The main problem seems to be with phasing which is something that may be difficult to fix without some form of micromanagement (someone could develop a mod if it were possible!). For instance, if I have an expressway exit that meets a junction, and then there is another junction not too far down the road, then the expressway exit often has a green light when the lane for the following junction is already full meaning that traffic cannot leave the exit ramp. In a real life situation, the lights would be phased so that the light at the second junction would turn green some time before that on the expressway ramp so that cars could move through. I hope this makes some sort of sense! The same is true on a normal road where you have a sequence of junctions: it's pointless having a light turn green when the next light is red and the road is already full. In traffic management it's known as tidal flow, but I really don't see how it could be implemented without a special tool allowing you to manage the sequence of each set of lights. Given the ability to build mods it's something that I could look at, but at the moment it's not possible...
Its mostly because the lights dont adjust to demand at all. This is actually one area where SimCity actually did really well at. If there is no traffic coming from a direction then they wont change. Unfortunately the traffic lights here have not only a set amount of time for each path but the time is usually so limited that most traffic cant get through.
In CiM2 the traffic lights are shifted after the amount of traffic. It depends on how many cars are coming from which direction, much traffic has longer green than a street where only 2 cars came from. Its all in all a very good solution here. The problem is, that, as you said, two or three crossings near by can block each other. Here it would be better if there would be a possibility for a user set green wave.
We've been asking CO to add some 'intelligence' to traffic lights ever since the game was launched. So I'm not going to get excited about it now!
Traffic control is not as easy as it seems. Please read the wikipedia article. It's really impossible to synchronise all streats, the actual solution is very good. What really is missing is the possibility to synchronise single crossings to each other, this would solve a lot of problems.
Also, the ability to customize the lane movements of each lane by customizing the arrows on the pavement would go a long way.
It's probably far from the top of any list I would agree! It would be a big help if you could specify lane movements though; If I know that most traffic turns right at a particular junction, then it would be good to specify which lanes can turn right (as an example). Also, forbidding left turns at certain junctions as another example. Anyway, I'd like to see the frozen car bug fixed before anything else!